Moscow -- A Russian tycoon who has financed a newspaper critical of the Kremlin and supported the opposition has been charged with hooliganism and assault for punching a businessman during a television talk show. He dismissed the criminal case as politically motivated.

Russia's top investigative agency, which announced the charges Wednesday, said the defendant, Alexander Lebedev, cannot leave Moscow while the investigation is under way.

Lebedev could face up to seven years in prison if he's convicted on the hooliganism charges, which are similar to those that were filed against three members of the feminist rock band Pussy Riot. The band members were sentenced to two years each last month for performing a "punk prayer" against President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral.

The charges against Lebedev refer to a September 2011 incident when he punched property developer Sergei Polonsky during a TV discussion of the financial crisis, sending him tumbling to the ground.

After the recording, Polonsky complained he had sustained a hand injury and that his jeans were ripped. According to the charges, however, an expert medical opinion dated Aug. 31 determined that Polonsky also received bruises to his hips and face that he did not realize were harmful at the time.

Russia's hooliganism statute also requires proof the accused grossly violated social norms. Though Polonsky began the exchange by pointing at Lebedev and saying, "I just feel like whacking somebody in the face right now," the charges assert he was not referring to anyone in particular and that Lebedev was "motivated by political hatred."

A few days after the incident, Putin referred to the fight as "hooliganism," and a criminal investigation was launched in October. Putin has taken an increasingly tough course against dissent after massive protests against his rule last winter.

Lebedev, whose net worth was reported by Forbes magazine to be $1.1 billion, made his money in banking. He has financed the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, which is fiercely critical of the Kremlin, and the British papers the Independent and the Evening Standard.